Some highlights

Highlights of the last few weeks:

 

 Shad became a toddler over night. It was a little bitter sweet for me to see him so grown up in a matter of hours!

 

 

 

Shad made his first piece of artwork in day care. It went straight on the fridge so I can show it off to anyone who cares!

 

We got a very kind letter from President Uchtorf, the second counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, congratulating us on the adoption of Shad. It helps to have family connections. ;) I love that Shad will always be able to look at it as he gets older and know how truly special he is. And, as a friend pointed out to me, it also puts the pressure on Jared and me to step it up and "bring him up in truth and righteousness and help him prepare to be a valiant servant of the Lord." We will definitely try our hardest to do so!

 

I am so grateful for our sweet Shad in our lives. I am so grateful to Sasha, his birth mom, for her willingness to follow what she knew to be right in allowing us become his adoptive parents. I know that Heavenly Father had already planned for him to be our son way before we ever knew it. I know this sounds a little strange, but I am also really grateful for my infertility. I am thankful for all of the pain, physical and emotional, that I felt almost every day for two years before we became parents to Shad; the joy he brings us was worth every bit of it. I don't know if I will ever be blessed in a way to bear children through my own body, but I do know I will have more children in the future in whichever way the Lord sees fit. He definitely has a plan for each of us and each one is so unique to our own situations and capabilities. I am so very thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, for His atoning sacrifice. He truly knows the pain and suffering that each and every one us has and will experience. I am so thankful that because of His atonement, that we will be sealed to Shad for eternity, and that families truly can be together forever.